


lay your hands upon me now (soothe me with their grace)

by namedawesome (davethetennant)



Series: heal me now with the power of your hands (your love is all i need) [2]
Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: Chloe Decker is gonna be there for him and give hugs because she cares, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Lucifer Morningstar just wants hugs and cuddles, hugs and such are hidden with in, it gets a little fluffy, mentions of abuse, there's a lot going on here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-16
Updated: 2019-08-16
Packaged: 2020-09-01 23:17:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20266141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/davethetennant/pseuds/namedawesome
Summary: Lucifer woke with a comforting weight on his chest. He breathed in deeply, noting the presence of the Detective and the low light of very early morning. He didn't know what time it was, but he knew he was comfortable and didn't want to move. Yesterday felt far away, farther away than he thought possible.





	lay your hands upon me now (soothe me with their grace)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [patriciatepes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/patriciatepes/gifts).

> This is the fic for these beauties over here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20265529

Lucifer woke with a comforting weight on his chest. He breathed in deeply, noting the presence of the Detective and the low light of very early morning. He didn't know what time it was, but he knew he was comfortable and didn't want to move. Yesterday felt far away, farther away than he thought possible. 

Chloe shifted in her sleep. She was still lying on top of him, warm and comforting, and for at least this moment she was his. He in no way deserved it, deserved her, but he was far too selfish to let her go. She was waking up slowly and he was loathe to part from her. His hand was still resting on her back from the night before, and absently he started smoothing his hand up and down, easing her into the world.

She stretched on a yawn, almost hitting him in the face, which he couldn't even fault her for. He huffed in amusement, and only then did she seem to remember he was there. She rested her chin on his chest and stared up at him for a long moment.

“Good morning, Detective,” he said softly. 

She smiled at him and sighed deeply. “Morning, Lucifer,” she said. She closed her eyes and surprised him by snuggling deeper into his chest and clutching at his shirt collar. 

He froze for a long moment before he continued rubbing her back. He felt her relax and he found himself dozing lightly. After what felt like ages, he felt her move against him, trying not to wake him, but he was so attuned to her in this moment that he woke anyway. He clutched her tightly for a moment before realizing what he was doing.

“Sorry,” she whispered to him, “I was gonna let you sleep.” And then she tenderly brushed his hair away from his forehead, making him freeze. They were quiet for a moment, her carding her fingers through his hair, and him slowly relaxing into the contact. “You feel up to going to the precinct today?” she asked him after his eyes had closed.

He sighed in a longsuffering sort of way and opened his eyes reluctantly. “It is time for work, isn't it?” he asked rhetorically. He was about to sit up, when Chloe beat him to it, straddling him and pressing her hands to his chest as if to stop him from moving. “Detective?” he questioned, confused.

“That's not what I asked, Lucifer,” she told him softly. He blinked up at her, unsure of what she wanted from him. “Do you feel like you can go to work today?” she asked him, slowly and with great care.

He opened his mouth to respond, but quickly closed it again. He met her eyes for a fraction of a second before looking away. “Are you going in?” he asked her quietly. She sighed and was about to call him out on not answering again, when he sat up, keeping her in his lap, hands at her hips. “Are you going in today, Detective?” he asked again, somehow quieter than before. 

“Yeah,” she replied. She let her hands move from his chest to cradle the sides of his neck between them, her thumbs stroking his cheeks.

He nodded and took a deep, fortifying breath. “Then so am I,” he told her. 

“Lucifer, no,” she started, and then stopped. She leaned her forehead against his, she closed her eyes and tried again. “Lucifer, you need to take care of yourself. You don't have to go home; you can stay here and be lazy. You don't have to push yourself or do anything you feel like you can't or don't want to do, okay?” She opened her eyes, finding that Lucifer's had closed, and that his brow was furrowed. She wanted him to take care of himself but knew it would be like pulling teeth. He sighed heavily, and she pulled away to place a kiss on his forehead. When he met her eyes this time, they were infinitely gentle, and she offered him a soft smile, once again moving his curls away from his forehead. “You need to relax, stay away from your mom and your brother for a little while…” She watched him look down at his hands on her hips, brows furrowed again.

He looked at her through his lashes and sighed, “Do you… don't you- don't you need my help?”

He looked so soft and uncertain that she melted into him, hugging him close so that his head was tucked under her chin. “I do need you,” she told him, rubbing his back, “but I want you to take care of yourself too. You're more important to me than solving a case, okay?”

He hugged her tighter, and she placed another soft kiss to his forehead. Softly, tentatively, he told her, “I want to go with you… I might not be much help, but… I'd like to go with you. If I could come home with you again, though, darling…”

She nodded against him. “Of course, Lucifer, of course you can,” she told him. She let him hold her for a few more minutes, before pulling away. She told him to get ready for work and left him to it as she went upstairs to change.

She returned to find him dressed and waiting for her. He hadn't done his hair, his curls falling over his forehead, and she smiled as she passed him. She was going to have a hard time not touching his hair today. Especially now since she knew how soft it was.

He opened her car door for her before climbing in the passenger seat. As they pulled onto the highway, he tentatively reached for her hand, and she gave it willingly. She was glad that he was with her (she would've worried about him if he'd chosen not to come with her) but she was still concerned about him. He looked better than he had yesterday, which made her feel better about letting him come with her. 

As soon as they got to the precinct, Dan was waiting for them with some info about the case. “Our vic was involved in some kind of drug ring,” he told them. He sounded serious and he sighed, “He was just a kid, too… Seventeen years old…” There was a moment where Dan shook his head like he couldn’t comprehend a reason for someone killing a kid even if he was in deep with drugs. “Ella hacked his phone and got all the texts deciphered. She has some info you might want to check out.”

They entered the lab, and Ella immediately went to hug Lucifer because she was worried about him after what happened yesterday. He visibly winced as soon as she made contact with him, and she backed away when she felt it. “Hey, Lucifer, you okay?” she asked gently while Dan just raised a brow. He would usually try to squirm away from her, but he had never flinched away from her before.

Lucifer just looked to the Detective and opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. His brow furrowed, and Chloe reached tentatively for his arm, but he flinched away from her too, before he realized what he was doing. He grasped her hand before she could draw away from him, his eyes met hers desperate for her to understand that he didn't mean to flinch away from her. She smiled at him softly. She squeezed his hand and asked him softly if he would like to go sit at her desk for a while. He nodded, and she offered him a soft smile.

“I'll be there in a little while, okay?” she told him. 

He nodded again and apologized softly. When she gave him a questioning look, he elaborated, “For flinching…”

Chloe’s shoulders loosened, and her soft smile became a little tearful, “Lucifer, no. Never apologize for that. I'm sorry for trying to touch you when you didn't want to be touched.”

Lucifer's brow furrowed again, like he didn't understand why she was apologizing for that. He went to sit at her desk, and Chloe watched him go worriedly.

“Is Lucifer okay?” Ella asked, “Does this have to do with yesterday? He's never flinched like that before…”

“He's…” Chloe sighed, not knowing what to tell them. “He’s dealing with some stuff. Personal stuff. He'll be okay, but he's really stressed out. And, you know, he doesn't like to be touched, usually… Just… Let him come to you, if he even comes to you at all.” Chloe bit her lip and looked off towards her desk. She shook her head and made herself focus on the case. “What did you get off the phone, Ella?”

Ella handed her a file. “Well, he was like a low-level dealer. From the texts on his phone, it looks like he was killed for getting in the way? It’s not as clear as I’d like it to be,” Ella told her. It was said without her usual enthusiasm and she kept glancing at Lucifer through the glass. “And all the numbers on the phone are hard to trace, like they're encrypted or something, it's gonna take some time for me to get there…”

Chloe nodded, “Thanks, Ella. Let me know when you find something, okay?” She turned to walk away, but Ella stopped her.

“Is Lucifer really okay?” she asked. “I mean, obviously he's not, but… yesterday was really weird, and that on top of today…” She trailed off wringing her hands. 

“He’ll be okay, Ella,” she reassured her friend. “He just needs some time to balance out after yesterday.”

Chloe walked out of the lab, followed by Dan, and spotted Lucifer at her desk, looking cornered by Charlotte Richards. She watched the other woman berate her partner, her hands waving in his direction vaguely, and watched him flinch, and when she heard the other woman telling him that she “expected” him to “come home” at the end of the day in the same tone she'd heard the night before over the phone, she hurried over to her partner.

She inserted herself between the two of them. She was facing Lucifer and caught his eyes as he glanced at her. She held her hand out, letting it rest in the air between them, letting him choose if he wanted her help. He met her eyes like he was ashamed but slipped his hand into hers. Without a word to the woman still speaking, Chloe led him away from her and outside into her car. She waited for him to buckle himself in and then she started driving. They were quiet for a while and then Lucifer's phone began to ring and ring and ring (and Lucifer silenced it more than a few times before letting it ring out a few more). It kept ringing no matter how many times he ignored it. 

Lucifer sighed deeply and finally after staring at the phone through a few more calls, he answered. “Mother…” he started.

“How dare you!” She raged through the phone loud enough for Chloe to hear. “How dare that bitch of a detective take you away fro-”

Lucifer’s voice cut over his mother's, his was a deadly calm counter to her screeching, “Don't you dare call her that! If I ever hear about you calling her anything except for her title, I'll hand you over to father in irons and he can decide what he wants to do with you.”

“Watch your tone, my son,” she snarled back at him. “You forget all I'm capable of.”

Lucifer scoffed, “And you forget how powerful I am. I'm not like Amenadiel, mother. I've never been your mindless sheep.” And he hung up, turning his phone off. He wanted to throw it out of the car window, Chloe could tell, but he didn't. After taking a moment to calm himself, he told her softly, “I apologize, Detective… that was…”

When he couldn't find the words, Chloe just grabbed his hand and squeezed it (he flinched a little and Chloe almost dropped his hand before he clutched at hers like it was the only thing holding him together). “It’s okay, Lucifer… What’s not okay, is that she spoke to you that way…” 

Lucifer stared at her like he didn’t understand what she meant. Like he couldn’t quite comprehend why his mother wouldn’t talk to him that way when it _was_ always how she spoke to him. She was about to ask him if that was how his mother always spoke to him but before she could her phone rang. It was Ella with a lead. She had wanted to continue their conversation, but she thought that Lucifer might not. So, she decided to focus on the case and their lead that would most likely help them solve this case. 

“Looks like we were looking in the wrong place,” Chloe told Lucifer as she maneuvered through traffic. “Ella says it’s pointing at our vic’s father now… Looks like he was in the business too, and that they were working with each other…”

“Typical,” Lucifer sighed. 

“Lucifer…” Chloe looked worriedly between him and the road for a moment, “Ella said the full autopsy report came back… He… He’s gone through some pretty serious abuse…”

Lucifer stilled next to her, and she watched as he looked up and glared at the roof of the car. Or past the roof of the car, because he thought his father was God, and it did seem like Lucifer was being tested with a case like this. “What are we waiting for, darling?” he asked with a hollow smirk. “Someone deserves a little justice, don’t you think?”

She knew he said justice, but she couldn’t help but think that he meant ‘punishment’. There was a moment of silence between them and then Chloe said, “I know with what’s going on this case is kind of hitting home for you, but… I want you to know I’m here for you, Lucifer…”

Lucifer didn’t respond, but his head twitched in her direction, so she knew he heard her. They spent most of the drive in silence. Chloe thought about their case, about Lucifer and the dreams he’d told her about, and what he’d revealed about his childhood, and she wondered… she wondered if any of his other siblings had experienced anything like he had (from what he said it wasn’t likely). She wanted to ask, but she knew that he wouldn’t tell her if she asked, at least not then. Perhaps if she had thought of it yesterday… 

She let herself wonder what kind of ‘punishments’ he’d gone through. She knew he had a habit of being too harsh on himself, and she knew that that had something to do with it. She’d seen him naked, knew that the only scars he had were the ones on his back… She wondered if there had been more than one instance of physical abuse. It was likely, and it… it hurt her more than she thought it would, but the thought of him in pain was just… it made her heart ache. 

She didn’t realize that she was crying silently until Lucifer touched her forearm and asked if he was alright. “Yeah, sorry,” she said wiping her tears away.

“What’s wrong, darling?” he asked, and her heart cracked open just a little bit more. He’d been hurt so badly by so many people and he cared so deeply about what was hurting her… especially since he was so wrapped up in his own issues. And the fact that this case was… a little more… well, it seemed that the victim’s father had been the one to kill him, and that was… it made Chloe worry about Lucifer a little more than she normally would.

“Lucifer…” Chloe started, and then she sighed, she knew it was something he wouldn’t want to talk about but after yesterday and this morning she thought that maybe he would with her (and she wanted to know, but she didn’t want him to shut her out). “You don’t have to answer this if you don’t want to, but… I just… Did your parents ever hurt you more than once?”

“I told you as much yesterday, darling,” he said confused.

“Physically?” she asked.

“Why do you ask, Detective?” He was frowning deeply at her.

She bit her lip and shook her head. “It makes me angry, and it… It should never have happened…” She watched his brow furrow out of the corner of her eye, like he didn’t understand why it upset her. “I care about you, Lucifer… I don’t like it when you get hurt, and I don’t like the thought of… of… of a younger you getting…” She sighed in frustration. “I’d like to give your dad a piece of my mind, is what I’m trying to say.”

Lucifer was staring at her, she could tell, gaping at her actually, and she had to bite at the inside of her cheek to stop herself from saying more. She knew she had to wait for him to talk next, otherwise she might scare him off. “Detective,” he started softer than she’d ever heard him before, “that’s… you can’t possibly… Darling, it’s… you shouldn’t concern yourself with me, I’m…”

“You are,” Chloe said, knowing he was going to say that he wasn’t worth it, but… “To me, you are,” she whispered, but then they had pulled up outside their suspect’s house and she got out of the car. She made sure to wait until he got out of the car to start walking through the small front yard. She felt Lucifer slightly behind her and sent him a small smile over her shoulder. As she knocked on the door, she felt his fingers, feather light, against her lower back and she was glad that she had his support. She wanted him to know that he had hers too, but before she could do anything the door opened. “Mrs. Alvarez?” the woman nodded in response. “We were wondering if we could talk to your husband.”

The woman let them in, and Mr. Alvarez glared at them. “Shouldn’t you be out there trying to find who killed that boy of mine?” he grumbled.

Chloe grabbed Lucifer’s arm as he started stalking towards the man. The anger in his eyes making them seem almost red in color. “That’s why we’re here,” Chloe said. “We found some messages on your son’s phone about dealing drugs.”

“We wouldn’t know anything about that,” Mr. Alvarez told them. But he was glaring at them, and Chloe had been a detective long enough to know when someone was lying to her. 

“Really?” Chloe asked. “Because your number was one of those he’d been texting about the drugs.”

“Oh, David, tell me you didn’t!” Mrs. Alvarez begged, tears forming in her eyes.

“Shut up, bitch!” David Alvarez screamed, and he lunged for his wife. 

He never got more than a step before Chloe dropped Lucifer’s hand and he had the balding man by the throat, holding him to the floor. “Tell me, David Alvarez,” Lucifer practically purred (but there was something else there, more of a growling sound… a subsonic noise reverberating through his words, and it made Chloe shiver as he continued), “what did you want with your son?” The terrified man let out an aborted scream, and Lucifer pressed on, “Come now, tell me everything…”

“I… I wanted to kill the little bastard!” he choked out. “He would never leave me alone! Asking me questions and wanting my attention even after I’d beat the life out of him!” Lucifer growled, inhuman and it made the man panic. “Look! He got in the way of a deal, okay? I didn’t mean to kill him; he was supposed to wake up! I went too far! It was an accident, I promise!”

Lucifer’s hand tightened on the man’s throat, and the man sputtered trying to breathe. “He was your son!” Lucifer roared, “A child! And you… you deserve what you’ll get!” 

Chloe stepped forward as David Alvarez started screaming bloody murder. She placed a hand on Lucifer’s back, between his shoulder blades and pulled at the arm he had at the man’s neck. He snarled at her and she hushed him, crowding into his side and whispering into his ear and cheek that it was okay, that they’d got him, and that he’d done very well, but she had it from here. As soon as Lucifer pulled away, she had the smaller man in handcuffs. He was practically comatose aside from apologizing over and over, so Chloe called for a squad car, made sure Mrs. Alvarez was okay, and slid as close to Lucifer as he let her. He stood with his hands in his pockets and let her lean with her front against his side. She brought a hand to rest on his stomach and she felt him start trembling. She remembered from yesterday that if she pulled away too quickly, he’d be a little desperate afterwards. So, when the squad car pulled up, she eased away from him, but she stayed close. She directed the other officers to the man huddled next to the couch, but she didn’t move very far from Lucifer. Shortly afterwards, another car arrived, and Dan got out of it with another officer. 

“We can handle the rest of this, Chlo’,” he told her, glancing at Lucifer. 

She thanked him and pulled her partner out of the house. She held his hand as she drove, and his trembling broke her heart, but she never let go of it, because as much as he needed the contact, she needed it too. She pulled into the precinct garage, coaxing him gently out of the car. As they walked through the garage and into the precinct he refused to let go of her hand (which was perfectly fine with her, she wanted him close). She led him straight to the lab and asked him to sit down. He did as she said and gripped at her hand, whining when she tried to pull it away from him. “Hey, it’s okay,” she said, and then she eased her hand out of his and weaved it into his hair like she’d been wanting to all day (his hair had been without product all day and she had been stopping herself from touching his curls). He shuddered and sat up, leaning forward and resting his forehead on her shoulder. His trembling was getting a little less violent with every breath.

“Uh, is he okay?” a voice spoke from behind her and both she and Lucifer jumped. 

Lucifer whimpered, and his arms came around her and she noticed that he stopped himself there, his muscles rigid and he’d stopped breathing. “Ella, hey,” Chloe said. “He’s, um, he’ll be okay. Can you give us a minute?” As soon as Ella closed the door behind her, Chloe placed a kiss to Lucifer’s head and told him that it was okay, that she was here, and she asked him if he could “Please, Luce, take a deep breath for me, okay? Just breathe. I’m here, just breathe…” (And she knew he wasn’t a fan of the nickname, but she wasn’t really thinking because she was much too worried about him at that moment.)

Eventually he settled, panting harshly against her neck, and shivering as she carded her hand through his hair. Her other hand rubbed at his spine between his shoulder blades. She didn’t allow her hand to spread out, afraid that if she touched his scars, she’d have to calm him all over again. He pulled back and he looked much like he had yesterday. “Thank you, Detective…” he sighed. 

Chloe placed a hand on his cheek and her thumb absently stroked against his cheek. His eyes slipped closed and he almost went boneless. “You don’t have to thank me for that, Lucifer,” she told him, and she pressed a kiss to his forehead, lingering there a little longer than she should have. “You want to head out?” she asked, “I can ask the lieutenant if we can leave… We can pick up Trixie from school and watch movies or something until her bedtime…” 

Lucifer nodded and she asked him to stay put. Ella was pacing outside of the door and Chloe asked her to keep an eye on Lucifer but told her not to touch him until Lucifer said she could, but it was probably better not to ask. The lieutenant told her that since they’d made their arrest they could go home, and Chloe thanked her. She peeked back into the lab to see Ella talking softly to Lucifer about one of the things she was testing in the lab. He was watching the forensic scientist with a soft focus, his eyes mostly on her hands as she swirled the test tubes, but he was present and interacting with her. He asked a question, something along the lines of ‘how do you tell which one’s which’ and Ella jumped into an excited explanation of the fibers and spun her screen to show him a read out or a chart of some kind. “See that spike there?” she was saying, “That’s how I tell what it’s made of, and then I can see what it is because I know what it’s made of.”

“Lucifer?” Chloe asked and his eyes shot to hers. “Ready to go?”

He nodded and stood. “Thank you, Miss Lopez,” he told her gently, and he brushed past her toward Chloe. She could see his eyes, could tell that after all that had happened, he was stressed and perhaps just wanted to relax. She was a little concerned that Trixie would be too much for him, but… well, she hoped it would be different. He hadn’t protested when she mentioned it, so she thought it would be okay. He didn’t let go of her hand as she drove to Trixie’s school, and he responded to everything she said. She was glad that he was better than he had been the day before, but she was still worried for him. She hated that he had to deal with a case like that as he was dealing with his mother and… and whatever had happened to him around Halloween… 

Trixie was more than happy to see Lucifer, and Chloe was glad that they were in the car because she didn’t want Trixie to touch him and freak him out. He didn’t seem to mind it when Chloe was touching him, but she was worried about Trixie doing so because he’d never been overly fond of her touching him before. She handed Lucifer Trixie’s bookbag and asked him to take it inside while she spoke to Trixie about trying not to touch Lucifer so much because he’d had a bad few days and “he… we had a case that was a little hard on him, okay, Monkey? So, try not to… ask him before you give him a hug, okay?”

“Okay, Mommy,” Trixie had said, but she was frowning and looked worried. 

Lucifer was standing by the kitchen table, the little girl’s bag hung over the back of a chair. When he saw the little girl, he braced himself. “Spawn,” he greeted quietly as she stopped in front of him.

“Can I give you a hug?” she asked. “Mommy said you didn’t have a good day, so I have to ask…”

Lucifer blinked at her. “I… I don’t…”

“You can say no,” Chloe told him. “If you don’t want her to hug you, you can say no. I don’t want you to feel like you did in the lab earlier when Ella tried to hug you.”

He stared at her like he didn’t understand what she meant and tilted his head to the side. “Why would… but I…”

“You really don’t have to let her, Lucifer, but you can if you want to,” she said, “It’s up to you, babe.” And she turned away to get her daughter a snack as she watched them out of the corner of her eye.

“Why did you have a bad day?” Trixie asked.

And Chloe was about to intervene, but Lucifer beat her to a reply, “The man we had to arrest today hurt his son. It…” Lucifer sighed, “It wasn’t… my Father was… similar.”

Chloe turned back to the two of them and was trying very hard not to say anything. She didn’t want to scare her partner off and she knew that her little Monkey knew about bad people, but she wasn’t sure that… she didn’t know if her daughter was ready for the idea that parents could hurt their children. Trixie was frowning and wringing her hands, “So, when you were small like me your dad was mean to you?”

Lucifer paused, head tilting to the side. “I was never small, but… yes, he was…” Lucifer looked down at his shoes then back up at the little girl. He was alarmed, and Chloe was about to rush forward when he asked, “What’s wrong, little urchin?”

Trixie sniffled, “I’m mad at your dad, and I’m sorry he hurt you, and I really, really want to give you a hug, but it’s okay if you don’t want one…” Tears were streaming down her face. 

He was silent for a moment, but then he uttered a small ‘alright’ and she shot over to him and buried her face in his stomach. He’d lifted his arms out of the way but after a moment he settled one of his hands on her head, and the other on one of the arms she’d wrapped around his waist. Chloe watched as her daughter’s shoulders shook with sobs, and Lucifer stroked her hair ‘tsk’-ing as she cried on him. “No need for those, darling,” he whispered. And when Trixie pulled back, Lucifer pulled out a handkerchief and wiped at her face. “You’ve got schoolwork, yes?” The little girl nodded. “Well, go on then,” he said like he was annoyed with her hugging him, and the little girl grinned through her sniffles, “We can’t have you failing at whatever it is you do in urchin-jail.”

“It’s not a jail!” Chloe scolded. 

But that was at the same time Trixie said, “Mostly math and language arts.”

“Ah,” Lucifer nodded at her daughter like he understood what she meant. He looked like he was about to say more, but Chloe directed him to the couch and asked him to take off his shoes. “Whatever for?” he asked.

“You cut your foot yesterday, and you’ve been walking on it all day,” Chloe told him. “It’s a miracle you’re not limping…” He slipped off his shoes and sat on the couch. He watched Chloe sit on the other end of the couch and when she prompted him, he put one of his feet in her lap. “The other one Lucifer,” Chloe told him, but she wasn’t scolding him, and her brow was furrowed. He apologized and switched his foot for the other one, but Chloe brushed his apology away. “It’s okay, babe,” she told him gently, and then she slipped off his sock and he shivered as she ran her thumb over the cut and the slightly sloppy stitches that Ella had given him. 

“Alright, darling?” he asked.

“Yeah, I just… I didn’t expect to see… Well, it looks a lot better than it did yesterday,” she said. 

“Perks of being me, darling,” he said with a smirk, but it looked like he wasn’t… It wasn’t as genuine as it might have been. She knew he was still a little off, so she offered him a genuine laugh and his face softened. She put his sock back on for him, which made her laugh because he wiggled his toes at her. 

“I’ll make dinner tonight, okay?” she stood and carded a hand though his hair. His breath caught and he closed his eyes opening them with a pout as she pulled away. “I want you to relax… I know it’s early, but do you want to shower?” He shook his head and she nodded. She placed a hand on his shoulder and went to help her daughter with her homework. Every once in a while, she would glance at Lucifer and how he was just sitting on the couch staring at nothing and she watched him jump as his phone rang.

She tried not to listen in, but she was drawn to his voice. “Amenadiel,” he said, “what can I do for you brother?” She watched him pace as Amenadiel spoke. “No, I’m not, not tonight… No… Of course, she told you…” Lucifer sighed. “She was… disrespectful towards the Detective, brother. That’s one thing I’ll not stand for…” He rubbed at the middle of his forehead for a moment and sighed again, “I’m not… No, I don’t particularly want to tell either of you where I am… Amenadiel, just… just drop it, brother! You never believe me when I bring it up anyway, why on earth would you believe me now?” He shook his head and sighed, “Yes, ‘that again’, brother!” Lucifer scoffed, and Chloe made sure he could see her come up to him. He held out an arm towards her and she ducked under it, resting her head against his chest. She felt him deflate. “No, brother… I’ve got to go…” And when he hung up Chloe snagged the phone before he could throw it.

“Shower?” she asked. He nodded. “Take as long as you need okay?” 

As soon as Lucifer disappeared, Trixie asked, “Is Lucifer okay?”

“He will be, Monkey,” Chloe sighed. “He’s just having a hard time with some things.” She knew she should let him process his conversation with his brother before she spoke to him, but she just… she wanted him to be okay, she wanted him to know that she was there for him. She managed to hold off for about half an hour but then Trixie asked her if Lucifer was okay and could one of them maybe go and check on him. 

When she got to the top of the stairs, she took a deep breath. She eased into her room, but she didn’t hear the shower, and that worried her a little. The door to the bathroom was ajar and she eased it open, catching sight of Lucifer in the mirror before the door fully opened. He was staring at himself in the mirror, shirtless and still in his slacks. He looked so very lost that she knew she had to go to him. She reached out, gently calling his name and let her fingertips brush his shoulder. His attention snapped to hers and he let out a long breath as he leaned into her touch. It wasn’t much, but it was enough, so she let her palm caress his arm and placed a gentle kiss to his bicep when she got close enough (and then she panicked a little because why did she do that, but he’d just hummed like it was comforting so she… he needed it, so it was… she was glad she’d done it). “You okay?” she asked him after a long moment. 

He sighed. “I haven’t been making it up, have I?” he asked quietly. “My whole existence has been… worse than… But Amenadiel said that I…” He leaned against her a little more than he had been. 

“You haven’t made anything up,” Chloe told him. “You don’t lie, Lucifer. If you say something happened to you, it did.”

He let out a choked off laugh. “Did you know that I have perfect recall? That I can remember everything that’s ever happened to me and how much it hurt…”

Chloe pressed her forehead into his shoulder and wrapped both her hands around his arm, one traveling downwards so she could tangle her fingers with his. “I’m so sorry, Luce…” she sighed and placed another kiss on his shoulder, and she felt him relax a little more (and that was twice she had called him that, and his lack of comment about it was just a little strange to her, but maybe he was okay with it now or with her?). “You still want to shower, or do you want to lie down for a while?” she asked after a moment. 

“I’ll… I’ll shower, if you don’t mind…” he said, tentative.

Chloe gave him a small smile and squeezed his hand. “Let me know if you need help, okay?”

“Oh, Detective,” Lucifer purred, but she could tell he didn’t quite mean it. “If you insist, darling, you could-”

“Take a shower, Lucifer,” Chloe told him rolling her eyes. She closed the bathroom door behind her and waited until she heard the shower start before she left the room. She started dinner after telling Trixie that Lucifer was okay, that he was a little sad, but he would be okay. As soon as dinner was in the oven (enchiladas, she was feeling zesty and she knew Lucifer would appreciate it), Lucifer popped down the stairs in the sweats and t-shirt he’d been in the night before. 

“Lucifer!” Trixie called from the kitchen bar. “Come here, I wanna show you something!” 

Lucifer rolled his eyes but walked over to the little girl. “What have you got, you little urchin?” he asked, but his voice was much softer than it usually was (especially where Trixie was concerned). 

The little girl told him that they had to write a story in school for her English class and she had decided to write about him and her mother solving a ‘crime’ that a mystery perpetrator had committed in her classroom. Chloe watched him read it with a look of confused fascination on his face. Trixie was particularly proud of the twist at the end and she giggled when Lucifer’s brows rose as he reached it. 

“Very… creative, Spawn,” he told her with a small smile. Chloe watched her daughter as she beamed at the man. He walked past the kitchen bar into the kitchen where Chloe was cleaning up the mess she had made while cooking. “I could’ve made dinner, darling,” he told her.

Chloe shook her head, “And I told you earlier that I wanted you to relax.” She watched Lucifer blink a few times in shock, like he didn’t understand why she would want that. “Feel better?” she asked gently. He sighed and wouldn’t look at her, but he shook his head. Chloe leaned in and wrapped her arms around him. She felt him tense, but she refused to let go, and eventually he relaxed against her. His arms came around her slowly, like he wasn’t sure what to do with them and he settled into her like he had the night before. “Lucifer…” she started.

“I’ll be alright, darling,” he whispered into her hair, and then he pulled away and pushed her toward her daughter. He took up cleaning the mess she’d made during her dinner preparations and wouldn’t stop until she relented and let him finish up without protest. Chloe watched the line of his shoulders, something she realized she had been doing all day, glad to see he was more relaxed here with her and her daughter than he had been at the precinct. 

She sent Trixie off to wash her hands when the oven went off and she refused to let Lucifer help her make plates for the three of them. She knew he was looking for things to do to take his mind off of the day, the case they had, so she let him argue with her and make her laugh. Dinner was lively, thanks to Lucifer and her daughter starting a debate about the best way to eat toast: butter side up (Lucifer) or butter side down (Trixie). When she first mentioned it, Lucifer had paused comically with his fork halfway to his mouth and stared at her like he couldn’t believe that she ate her toast butter side down (it was due to the Dr. Seuss book called _The Butter Battle Book_ and Chloe had let her try toast both ways so that she could decide which side she was on in the battle and still was on years later). Lucifer watched her with morbid fascination as she defended her butter side down toast, and eventually instead of arguing with her, he just watched her tell him about how good it was a how he should try it.

Chloe couldn’t help laughing at how Lucifer was staring between the two of them like they were crazy as Chloe started reciting some lines from the book and Trixie was laughing so hard she would have fallen out of her chair had it not been for Lucifer catching her (he looked so confused as he’d done it, like it was an automatic reaction, and Chloe couldn’t help but melt as he gently set her daughter back into her seat). 

Eventually, it was time for Trixie to go to bed, and the gentle sleepy hug she gave Lucifer was so sweet (and his response to it was… well, he’d froze and relaxed all at one, but he looked so confused about it that it almost broke her heart). She put her little girl to bed, answering her questions about Lucifer and if he was spending the night and maybe if he spent the night tomorrow could he pretty, pretty please read her a bedtime story. She said that they would have to ask Lucifer if that was okay with him and if he was even staying another night, and as soon as her daughter’s eyes were drooping, she pressed a kiss to her hair and quietly left the room. 

Lucifer was staring at the photos on the mantle when she looked away from her little girl. His brow was furrowed, and he was staring at one photo in particular. The one with just her and Trixie from years ago, before Trixie had hit that first growth spurt. “That’s one of my favorite pictures,” Chloe told him. “My mom came to visit, and Dan was supposed to be with us, but he had to work, and Trixie said we had to take a picture there… she wouldn’t tell me why, but she said we had to. I think she just liked the tree…”

Lucifer hummed in consideration, still staring at the photo. “She… your relationship with her, it’s… I’ve never…” he huffed out a frustrated breath.

Chloe placed a hand on his lower back, trying very hard not to let her hand travel up his back to the place she knew his scars were. “It’s okay,” she told him. “Not everyone has a good relationship with their parents… My mother and I certainly don’t… and I know it’s not the same as you and… and your mom, but…”

Lucifer let out a bitter laugh. “I thought she was going to kill me when she first came back…” 

“I remember…” Chloe told him. 

“She was… she is…” he scoffed and shook his head. “She only comes around when she wants something, and I know she wants… she wants to destroy Father and she wants me to help her, but I…”

“You don’t want to?” she asked. 

“I want Him to stay out of my life,” he sighed. “I never want to hear from Him again and I want my mother to leave me alone like she always has…” He shook his head and turned towards her, but still wouldn’t look at her. “Amenadiel just wants to return home, that’s why he’s helping her… They’ve decided that I’m the only one that can give them what they want. I don’t see why… they never wanted my help before, but now that I’ve… now that I’ve found a home here, they…”

“They want to take you away from it?” Chloe finished for him and she rubbed his back as he scoffed. “Can’t you just… not help them?”

Lucifer sighed heavily. “They won’t leave me be, Detective! You saw my mother today… She’s determined if nothing else…”

“I can think of a few words for her…” Chloe practically growled (and if Lucifer laughed for the first time that day, well, she was particularly proud of herself for making it happen). “I want to punch her in the face for talking to you like that…” Chloe scoffed with a roll of her eyes. “Does she always talk to you like that?” She watched him duck his head, and she felt that familiar bubble or righteous anger build in her chest. “I might slap her…”

“No!” Lucifer told her firmly. “You can’t she… She’s dangerous, darling.”

“I can handle Charlotte Richards,” Chloe told him. “I’ve dealt with her before.”

“My mother is very different from Charlotte Richards,” he said darkly. Chloe just looked at him strangely and shook her head. There were some things about Lucifer that she would never understand. “You shouldn’t…” he sighed deeply, like the weight of all the millennia he claimed to have lived were weighing on him. “I’ll have to deal with it myself, one way or another, I suppose…”

Chloe sighed. “You shouldn’t have to, Lucifer,” she told him, voice gentle. “We can help you… I can help you if you let me…”

Lucifer shook his head. “Not if it puts you in danger…”

Chloe bit her lip, but she didn’t know what else to say so she wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her nose in his chest. He always smelled so good, but that was beside the point. She knew that contact helped him in moments like this, that he liked to have her close. So, she got as close to him as he allowed, and it took a short moment before he slipped his arms around her. He shuddered a little as she scratched lightly at his lower back, and she hid her smile from him. “I’m here if you need me…” she whispered to him. 

He hugged her tighter and she felt him bury his nose in her hair and take a deep breath, like the scent of her was comforting to him. She heard him yawn and hid her own in his chest. He chuckled at her like he had the night before (the sound had rumbled through his chest, just like it had last night and it made her smile, made her want to be with him like she had the night before… she’d ask him what he wanted, make sure she was welcome, that he wanted her with him). “You should sleep, darling,” he told her gently. “You’re tired…”

“You are too…” she told him. She hugged him tighter because she didn’t want to let him go, didn’t want to leave him alone, wanted to do her best to protect him even if it was like she had yesterday (with just her touch and her presence and any way she could because he wouldn’t let her protect him any other way). They stood there, hugging for the longest time, and Chloe smiled as Lucifer started swaying them gently to a music that only he could hear. Her eyes were drooping, and she was completely relaxed against him.

“You really should head to bed,” Lucifer said, and she felt it rumble through his chest more than she heard him speak. 

She hummed in response and pushed him toward the couch until he sat and climbed onto him sort of like she had the day before (he’d actually pulled her into his lap yesterday and that… that had been… she’d enjoyed it, to say the least) and as she settled, she felt him shudder like he had earlier in the lab. 

“Darling…” he started, but he seemed stuck there, like he had no idea what he was going to say.

“We can sleep here,” she told him as her eyes closed, tucking her nose into his neck, breathing him in. She was glad that he had brought his soap with him, because he smelled amazing and it made her feel safe, like it always did (and she’d had to stop herself from using it that morning… It had been sitting next to hers in the shower, and she had uncapped it and took a deep breath, wanting so badly to smell it on her, to feel safe…). 

“We?” he asked in a whisper, pulling her closer, and Chloe, in her sleepy state, almost placed a kiss to the skin at his neck. 

She hummed, snuggling deeper into his neck, and sighed when his hand started rubbing her back. At that, she made herself sit up and look him in the eye. “You think you’re going to have nightmares?” she asked, moving one of his curls off of his forehead. 

He looked away from her then, shaking his head helplessly. “I don’t know…” he told her softly.

“That’s okay,” Chloe told him. Then she pushed him until they were lying down like they had been the night before. Her lying on his chest, his hand on her back, she was settling into sleep although she wanted to stay up, she wanted to make sure that he was sleeping peacefully before she dropped off.

“Sleep, darling,” she heard his voice rumble through his chest. She tried to resist, tried to stay awake… but he was rubbing her back like he had the night before, and she was tired, so she slept.

When she woke next it was to a shout and the fact that what she was sleeping on had moved. Lucifer was clutching at her, crying out at something, and murmuring her name over and over again. She sat up, straddling him for the second time that day and tried shaking him awake. Calling his name and pushing at his shoulder and then, finally he woke. He sat up, still clutching her and panting her name. 

“Shhh, Lucifer, it’s okay, babe…” she whispered into his ear as she pulled him closer. He shook his head and tried to stand but she put a hand on his face and made his eyes meet hers. “Lucifer, I’m right here, I promise,” she told him. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Trixie’s door open and she inwardly cursed. 

“You’re here?” he asked, confused. “But I just… I saw you; you were… they took you and then I never…” he blinked a few times and his eyes cleared a little. “Darling?” he asked, like he couldn’t quite believe she was in front of him.

“Yeah, I’m here, Luce…” she whispered. “You came home with me and Trixie today, remember?”

“The urchin?” he asked, brow furrowed. 

“Are you okay, Lucifer?” her daughter asked, and both Chloe and Lucifer jumped. 

“Yes, of course,” Lucifer replied, mostly automatically, but he was still clutching at her like she was the only thing that mattered. 

“Did you have a nightmare about the bad man? Or your dad?” the little girl asked climbing onto the couch with them. 

“No, I… No…” he said already breathing easier. 

Trixie wriggled her way between them and pushed at Lucifer until he was lying down again. She laid her head on his shoulder and yawned. “That’s okay, sometimes bad dreams are weird. You should let us cuddle you, that always makes me feel better after a bad dream…” And then the little girl yawned again.

Lucifer stared at her for about three seconds before he was yawning too, and then Chloe was yawning so she followed Trixie’s lead and laid her head on his other shoulder. This seemed to make him relax, more than talking to him seemed to, so Chloe just let herself relax against him. Lucifer and Trixie were asleep in moments, and Chloe watched over them for as long as she could before her eyes slipped shut.

In the morning she woke to her daughter’s not quite whisper, and the rumbling of Lucifer’s voice through his chest. She didn’t know what they were talking about, but she knew that they were with her and that was good. She snuggled deeper into his body and squeezed him tighter as her daughter giggled and pouted as Chloe told her that she better get ready for school. “Get ready, darling,” he whispered into her hair, “I’ll make the three of us some breakfast.”

She reluctantly sat up, straddling him, like she had the morning before, and she looked down at him until he sat up. His brow was furrowed, and he put a hand on her face, stroking her cheek. “You alright, darling?” he asked her.

She nodded. She stroked his hair from his forehead and leaned forward to place a kiss there. “Whenever you need us, we’re here okay?” she whispered. He leaned his forehead against hers and sighed deeply. They stayed like that for a long moment until Lucifer reminded her gently that she had to get ready for work. She pouted at him, and when he managed to tease her about wanting to play hooky with him, she knew that he was going to be okay. 

She drove him to his penthouse before she went into work and as he started walking away from her, she called him back. He leaned in the window with a raised brow and she smirked gently, softly, before she placed a lingering kiss to the corner of his mouth. She pulled away and watched in the rear view as he just stood there, stunned. She wanted him to remember this, to know that she cared about him so very much.


End file.
